Monday, August 3, 2015

Puzzler - Who's Who

Remember these two late hatch Stafford chicks, well I also found a couple of German Roller chicks but there mother had decided to molt rather than feed. I know from experience that if you can get the hen to feed her chicks it will totally stop the molt but try as I may to get her to feed, she decided to molt instead!

The only viable place for the roller chicks is to move them in with the Stafford chicks. So I removed the red colored egg food and replaced it with regular and watched from a distance.

Momma Stafford didn't miss a beat and started feeding her chicks and the two roller chicks immediately.

Often when I transfer chicks to a foster home, I trim the baby fuzz so I can tell who's who but this time it wasn't necessary. WHY? Only right answers will be printed! So lets see who can get this right first!

Way to go Adam!! Luckily, both of these Stafford chicks are crested as indicated by their bald, fuzz free heads!

I want to band them correctly for show. Rollers in the US wear silver bands which the other kinds are color coded year bands. Had I not been so lucky, I could band them with Stafford band on one leg and Roller band on the other and cut off the wrong one!

Stafford chicks are either crested or non-crested. Even in newborns you can tell crested chicks because there is no baby fuzz on the top of the head. Crested ones appear "bald" until the feathers come in as crested.

Hehee tnx linda. Hope you and everyone on here had a good season. Mine was terrible, i dont know what went wrong but most of my birds died, they would get bloated and then die. the remaining got bumblefoot...(cages r cleaned weekly, water changed daily, perches cleaned every two days) Did all treatments i know like probiotics, coxidiosis, baytril... For the bloating nothing worked. Betadin did reduce the bumblefoot.Frustrating season.

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Big Bird

About Me

My first canary memory was early childhood as my mother raised about 100 canaries each year. During the breeding season, she was always finding a young chick which she said needed hand feeding. I would use a toothpick to stuff its crop with eggfood. It never occurred to me that each time it was a different chick! I still have a weakness for hand feeding although I rarely do it as the mothers food is far superior. When I was 16, I adopted an elderly "grandmother" and she raised German rollers. I would sit for hours and listen to her green roller singers. I banded my first birds in 1980. I achieved master breeder exhibitor status in color-bred canaries and German Rollers.
I became a judge and hold judging credentials from the Central States Roller Canary, National Colorbred, Stafford Canary, North American Border and Old Varieties Canary Associations. I have judged shows all over the US including Puerto Rico and Canada.
My book "The Complete Canary Handbook, Canary Tales" is in its 14th edition and sells worldwide. In a typical year, I breed around 150 canaries. My current aviary includes German Rollers, Borders, Staffords, and Colorbreds.